Wildlife rehabilitators answer call of the wild

Call of the wildWildlife rehabilitators answer the call

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, July 5, 2001

Wildlife rehabilitator Lett Guzman figures that plenty of shoppers appreciate the grocery store that went up last year at the corner of Jones Road and Cypress-North Houston.

But some area animals lost their homes when the store began construction, she points out.

Guzman said about 50 raccoons had to be relocated before construction crews began their work. A wildlife rehabilitator who specializes in raccoons drove a trailer to the site, loaded the animals and carted them off to a wooded area near Livingston.

"With squirrels or raccoons especially, there's always the risk of rabies, although we've been lucky in Harris County to not have rabies in the raccoon population for some time now," said Guzman, a volunteer with Friends of Texas Wildlife since 1995. "Still, there are always health risks. After all, these are wild animals. You can't just tell someone to go out and capture an animal like that."

Rehabilitators and organizations such as Friends of Texas Wildlife play a key role in protecting orphaned, injured and ill native Texas wildlife. Guzman and her peers are the first to admit there are not enough licensed rehabilitators to keep up with the demand placed on them, particularly in growing suburban areas like those in northwest Harris County.

"It depends on the season, but we get everything -- squirrels, possums, raccoons, birds -- everything comes in in this area. In the Cypress and Copperfield area, there are a lot of possums and a lot of snakes," said Guzman, a Mossy Oaks Estates resident who handles rehabilitation assignments in Cypress and northwest Houston. "We get so much because they're tearing down wooded areas, and the animals are having to find new homes."

"We get a lot of calls from people saying how they absolutely don't want wildlife anywhere near them, they don't want to interact with animals, yet they've moved into their domain," said Rebecca McKeever, a Cypress resident.

McKeever and her husband, Rex, operate Lone Star Wildlife Rescue. Now in its second year, Lone Star treated more than 2,100 animals of 150-plus species last year. The McKeevers have been rehabilitating animals in the area since 1994 and are now assisted by seven rehabilitators.

"There are just not a whole lot of rehabilitators. In the state of Texas there are only about 300, which is not a lot when you consider the size of the state and the abundance of wildlife. Plus, the numbers are concentrated in areas around San Antonio, Houston and Dallas," McKeever said. "When we go to conferences, we end up with a lot of the topics being how to deal with urban wildlife," she said. "Anywhere you go, you're going to have conflict between man and animal."

McKeever said more often people want to do the right thing; however, they may not know exactly what is the right thing.

"A lot of what we see this time of year are "kidnapped" birds or nestlings that might have blown out of trees," McKeever said. "People can pick up baby birds and put them in a hanging basket near the nest, and the parent will come back for the baby."

Lisa Haase is director of Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition. The organization's west Houston shelter can accommodate up to 100 animals. The shelter might receive fewer birds if more people understood the natural processes baby birds go through, she said.

"First, I'd ask you if that bird was mostly feathered. If it is, I'd explain that it's probably a fledgling and that they spend about a week to 10 days on the ground learning how to fly while their parents come and go and bring food to them. And unless that bird appears injured or in imminent danger, it's best to leave that bird alone," Haase said. "If it does seem to be injured or is in imminent danger from cats or whatever, it's best to bring the bird to us."

McKeever said it's often best to resist the natural urge to feed wildlife.

"The wrong food can do a lot of damage to them. People want to help, and feeding animals is something they know they can do. It's tangible, but if you don't know the animal's diet it can actually be harmful," McKeever said.

"Feeding the wrong types of food always does more harm than good. It's easier for us to deal with dehydration than diarrhea and the other problems that ensue when they're fed improperly," Haase said.

McKeever said the biggest mistakes are made when people attempt to deal with animals -- most often raccoons and possums -- that have made homes in their yards, attics or garages.

She recommends "exclusion" as a method to deter this from happening. Pet food fed outdoors should be picked up before nightfall or fed in intervals. Purchase trash cans that animals cannot get into, and use predator urine, sold in hunting sections of many sporting goods stores, to keep animals from entering or remaining in homes and yards. The product is not harmful to humans, house pets or homes, McKeever said.

"I think the first step is to not be overly concerned and overreact when you do see a possum walk through your yard.

"People don't realize these animals are nomadic and they're just passing through -- unless you do give it a reason to stay like leaving your pet food out for them, not sealing your garbage cans, having holes in your house through which they can come. If we take those measures, I think we can certainly co-exist with them quite peacefully," Haase said.

McKeever never recommends trapping and relocating wildlife if you haven't been licensed in rehabilitation.

"There's no reason to disrupt a family group just because you feel they're invading your space," McKeever said. "It solves your problem by making the animal out of sight, out of mind. But the problems are just beginning for the animal when you do that."

Trapping and relocating an animal, which Haase calls "a death sentence," means actually handling the animal, which may or may not be a good idea, said an area veterinarian who has had injured turtles, deer and other wildlife brought to her office.

"If they're not familiar with animals, I'd tell them to call somebody and just stay there and keep an eye on it," said Dr. Melinda Daniels, who owns and operates OSCAR Fund Animal Hospital, 12510 Kluge Road. "Skunks and raccoons can possibly be rabid and deer can just beat the tar out of you with their hooves. You have to use more caution than you would with a dog or cat."

Guzman said people sometimes have to be reminded such wildlife isn't akin to a house pet.

"We get hundreds of calls a year from people who are planning on keeping an animal they find and are asking what to feed it. Number one, a lot of these animals are protected by state law and some birds are protected by federal law. It's illegal for people to own these animals.

"People typically try to keep squirrels or raccoons as pets, but they don't know the proper diet to feed it, they think, `We'll feed it nuts.' If it's a baby, it needs to nurse and improper diet can keep it from having proper bone development," Guzman said.

Which means the animal is likely to become injured. Which means a trip to a rehabilitator. Such can be avoided, Guzman said, if man will allow nature to take its course.

"Learn to live with this wildlife and respect it," she said. "Respect what it does in the wild and realize there's a reason it does what it does. It wouldn't be there if we weren't chopping down its habitat."